The following paragraph is not an admission that anything discussed therein is citable as prior art or part of the general knowledge of people skilled in the art.
Leather products, such as parts for an automobile interior, may be made from pieces of leather cut to patterns. To cut the pieces of leather, dies may be made in the shapes of the patterns, placed on leather hides and pushed through the leather in a press. Several die shapes may be needed to cut all of the distinct pieces that will be sewn together to create an end product. An order for a given number of end products, for example a given number of interiors of a given make and model of automobile, will require a certain number of pieces cut according to each pattern. Because of the high expense of leather and the irregular shape and uniqueness of each hide, dies may be placed on the hides by hand in order to maximize the usage of acceptable leather. A complete set of dies making up one final product is unlikely to efficiently fit on one hide. Instead, a variety of dies will be fitted to the hide by a worker in an attempt to generate a good yield from each hide. A good yield is achieved when the amount of scrap, that is the unused material between dies, is minimized. Another worker may keep track of the quantity of pieces cut using each pattern so as to end up with the correct number of pieces cut to each pattern to fill an order.